


Returned

by prompt_fills



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Isolation, M/M, Pre-Slash, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8171173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/pseuds/prompt_fills
Summary: Leo and Kun, stranded on an island, waiting to be saved.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pique](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pique/gifts).



> A treat for aguero.

A vile smell of burnt flesh penetrated Leo’s consciousness.

He struggled to open his eyes and soon he was tearing up from the sharp sunlight. He blinked a few times, then rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Rise and shine.”

Leo turned his head to the sound and attempted to sit up. A hand was wrapped around him, supporting his back, helping him to lean back. The hard and uneven surface was digging into Leo’s spine and he shifted uncomfortably, almost sliding sideways.

“Are you going to stay awake now?”

“What–?” Leo choked out and then grimaced at the taste of sand in his mouth. He tried to get the grains off his teeth with his tongue and spit it out but his throat was parched.

“I can give you some water to rinse the dirt but don’t try to drink it this time, okay?”

Leo’s eyes focused on Kun’s worried face. He was kneeling next to Leo, holding out a coconut shell with water. It was a large shard of coconut, a far cry from the cute bowls Leo was used to seeing filled with some tropical drink and decorated by a couple of colourful straws.

“No drinking,” Kun advised him. “It’s warm and salty. You’d end up puking out your guts.”

He took the offered cup and sipped carefully. The water was salty and disgusting but it got the job done.

“What’s that fucking smell?” he asked.

“Uh,” Kun said, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Survival tip number one, always make sure your makeshift pots aren’t on fire.”

Leo just stared at Kun, confused.

“Uh. It got too close to the flames,” Kun offered. “The fish is a toast.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Let’s just say there won’t be any dinner tonight. But hey, it’s not that bad, we still have coconuts. A lot of coconuts,” Kun grumbled. “I don’t think you’d be up to holding anything down anyway. Maybe we’ll try with the coconut a bit later, okay?”

“…What happened?”

Kun grimaced and took the coconut shell back. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Leo sat up straighter and the world went woozy but that did not matter because… because… “Are Nicolás and Javi–?” Leo couldn’t say the word. He couldn’t even think about it. His stomach clenched.

“Oh, hey, no.” Kun was grabbing his shoulders, squeezing tight.

“They were with us! On the boat, before it… before the storm and–”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, calm down.” Kun pressed one hand against Leo’s chest, keeping him from bolting upright.

“Where are they?” Leo looked around, hoping their two firends would pop up from somewhere. But all he could see was the endless ocean and the white sand on the beach. Leo eyed the rows of palm trees that were behind him, praying to see the other two familiar faces. Perhaps the resilient duo was gathering twigs and leaves for a shelter.

“We saw land from the south part of the island and then there were lights at night. It doesn’t seem to be far and they decided to swim there and get help. You were still in the la-la land when we took votes.”

Leo felt very lightheaded, his world was zooming into a narrow space and he could hear the echo of his frantic heartbeat in his ears. “Are–?”

Kun helped him to lean back against the trunk of the palm tree. “Calm down. It’s not as bad as it seems.”

“Hmmff!” Leo huffed.

“I mean it. They’ve only been gone for one day and–”

Leo was captivated by the sight of the waves breaking against the sandy shore, the white foam forming, rolling over and disappearing, the sand getting wet and drying on the sun right after the water was gone. A truly dizzying sight.

“Come on, Leo, snap out of it!” Kun was leaning in, cupping Leo’s face and trying to catch Leo’s eyes. He kept talking, a steady stream of words that made little sense. Leo finally managed to focus. “…and it’s not like palm trees are native to Caribbean anyway.”

“What?”

“Ah, you’re back?” Kun said, pleased. He sat into the sand next to Leo. “You really have to stop doing that. It’s freaky. I said that everyone must be already wondering why our sweet little boat went off the radar, literally, and when we don’t make it to the port in the next four days, they’ll start looking for us. We can last that long, I promise.”

The knot in Leo’s stomach tightened anew. Despite Kun’s forced coolness, they both knew how dire their situation was. But Kun was always good at distracting him. “You were saying, about the coconuts?” Leo prompted.

“Yeah,” Kun nodded, “there’s a bunch of theories and some are really exciting, although maybe a little crazy, like that they got here from Indonesia by surfing the waves, you know?”

“Sounds legit. At least you’re not saying they canoed here from Russia,” Leo acknowledged.

“Actually, one of the few places in Europe that are warm enough to grow tea is in Russia. Well, and in Portugal, but – Russia, cool, right?”

“Probably not _cool_ enough for the palm-trees.” Leo let out a short laugh. There wasn’t much humour in it. “How do you know these things?”

“I… never mind. Is it helping?”

“With trying to keep my mind off things? Yeah, I haven’t thought about how we’re going to die here of starvation if we don’t get eaten by a jaguar first… in, like, full five seconds. Well done.”

“There aren’t any jaguars. Maybe an ocelot but that’s as big as it gets.”

“Not. Helping,” Leo gritted through his teeth.

“Maybe some snakes and spiders,” Kun added thoughtfully, jabbing his finger into the sand with a little wiggle.

“Don’t forget about the fucking scorpions,” Leo growled.

“Yeah, scorpions, right.”

“They can be pretty useful, _right_? Full of protein and shit. I bet you’d add them to our diets if any of those stingers crossed our path.”

“Erm,” Kun spluttered, “I don’t know how you are supposed to eat them. Chances are you’d end up getting sick so the nutrients aren’t worth it if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Leo grabbed the nearest coconut – they were laying in the sand everywhere around them – and with a sharp cry, he hurled it into the ocean. Kun finally shut up and they both watched as the waves carried the coconut back to them.

Kun rose up. “If people can survive on PB&J sandwiches, we can survive on coconuts,” he said calmly and offered Leo a hand to get him on his feet.

Leo shakily stood up, leaning against the palm tree. With the endless beach and the vast ocean, he never felt more trapped. It was just him and Kun and no civilisation in sight. “Did you volunteer to stay behind with me?”

“Someone had to. And I drew the shortest stick,” Kun said, deadpan.

“Ha. Ha,” Leo said.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Come on, can you walk? It looks like it’s going to rain.”

Leo looked up at that and saw the sky quickly darkening, heavy clouds forming seemingly right in front of his eyes. It didn’t take long and the torrential downpour was on them.

They huddled close and tried to get shielded by the trees but the rain was too heavy. They were soaked through and through within moments. Even though the temperature dropped a bit, the rain wasn’t terribly cold.

As quick as it came, the downpour stopped. Kun’s t-shirt was wet but his skin was warm where it pressed against Leo’s. Leo shivered; Kun pressed closer.

“Oh shit.”

Leo turned his head at Kun. “What is it?”

“The fire will be a goner.”

“Oh. Probably. That rain was pretty intense.”

“But it didn’t last very long.” Kun’s shoulders sagged. “Javi managed to light it up from nothing, basically, but back then everything was dry at least.”

“I wouldn’t know how to get it started anyway.”

“We need fire, it gets cold at night. And I don’t like the taste of raw fish.”

“So what?” Leo said lightly. “No more sushi for you.”

Kun punched his shoulder in retaliation.

Leo leaned away and then kept with the move to get himself up. “Let’s get back to that fire pit of yours, maybe it’ll be still warm enough and we can rekindle it.”

The partly burnt logs still gave out a grey smoke and Leo kneeled down on all fours to blow into them. Several little pieces gleamed orange.

“Let me,” Kun said. “No sense in you getting yourself knocked out again.”

For long minutes, Kun nurtured the flames back to life, patiently blowing a gentle breath over the logs until the tentative flickers of flames appeared, hissing and sizzling. The sun came out again, just as sharp and hot as before the storm. Soon, it was as if there was never any storm.

“I could never get used to weather like this,” Leo commented as they laid out their clothes to dry.

“Me neither, the climate is too strange. Great spot for summer holidays, though.”

“Oh yeah,” Leo grumbled, “a paradise on Earth. And a real bargain. A chance to catch _a break_.”

“It’s not that bad. We’ve got fire, we’ve got food. There is plenty of fish.”

Leo eyed the waters. “Maybe we can try that thing with the _fish on flames_ again?”

Kun hit his shoulder again. Leo was going to have a bruise for sure.

“Just for that, we’re going fishing, you’re going to help me and you’re not getting a single bite until you apologise and acknowledge my superior skills.”

“Let’s see if you catch anything at all,” Leo dismissed him.

“Oh, you’re on.” Kun grabbed a sharpened stick and headed towards the sea.

Leo followed, if only to observe Kun’s efforts and provide mocking commentary.

Kun stood with the water up to his waist. He was absolutely still, the spear posed, eyes patiently skimming the water in front of him. Several times he dived in but the fish evaded his attempts. Leo cackled each time Kun missed.

By the end of the day, they nibbled on the coconut and didn’t say much of anything.

The sun was about to set down when Leo suggested they leave some sort of a message on the sandy shore.

“Definitely!” Kun agreed, “I should have thought of that sooner.”

Leo reached out to pat Kun’s back sympathetically. The situation was pretty stressful already, and Leo had added up to it by not being awake for more than half of it. He barely understood how Kun kept it together. 

“We could make a huge arrow from the twigs and then use the coconuts for the letters. HELP US.”

Leo shook his head. “S.O.S. is shorter.”

“Yes, that’s why we need to spell it out – please, help us – so it’s more noticeable up from the air. And maybe we could add the month and year behind that.”

“Oh, sure, that makes sense.”

They set to work, using the coconuts as well as the dry palm leaves, the twigs and the stones to form a message for any planes or helicopters searching for them.

When they were done, they made a huge pile of leaves by the fire. The light from the fire attracted various insect but hopefully, it would make any predators wary of approaching.

Leo lied down, the dry leaves crunching. He kept twitching for a while, until nothing was poking at his skin.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” Leo whispered.

“Yeah, it was really strange when you were… sleeping. So quiet and lonely.”

Leo didn’t say anything for a moment but then he decided to correct Kun’s assumption. “I meant I’m glad it’s _you_.” The only person who could understand.

Kun’s voice was quiet, nearly drowned out by the ocean, but Leo caught the reply. “Me too, Leo.”

Kun was his anchor, keeping him sane, making him stronger, giving him the will to fight.

Kun’s soft snores could soon be heard but Leo didn’t find it so easy to fall asleep. Maybe it was the dusk, the island or the flickering flames of the fire, or the close proximity as they lay with their sides touching. He was enthralled by the strangely intimate atmosphere that was between them.

Leo wasn’t sure if he was still lying awake or if he’d dozed off for a moment but there was no mistaking it; he could hear a sound of an engine.

“Kun! Kun,” he reached over and shook Kun’s shoulder violently.

Kun woke up, disoriented.

“Can you hear it?” Leo demanded. “Listen, it’s approaching.”

Kun was on his feet that instant. “We need to make a bigger fire. Light the piles that are by the message.”

They worked with a feverish urgency.

“Do you think it’s a boat?”

“I don’t know,” Kun answered. He stood sideways to Leo, his figure flickering with the light from the fires. “And honestly I don’t care as long as they see us.”

Leo light two longs branches by holding them above their main fire, then handed one stick to Kun. They kept jogging with the make-shift torches along the beach, close to the sea. Movement was always easier to notice.

“It’s a helicopter,” Kun called out after a while.

Leo looked up to the darkening sky but he could hardly see anything.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, the sound is pretty telling,” Kun explained and started waving his stick vigorously.

It took a few more minutes but then they finally spotted the light from the helicopter flying overhead.

When it hovered near their island and shone its spotlight onto them, Leo sunk down to his knees, his throat constricting.

He blamed the sharp glare of the light for the tears in his eyes. He leaned forward and hid his face in the crook of his elbow, holding himself up by keeping one hand splayed on the sand.

One of the pilots grabbed a megaphone and the distorted voice came to them loudly. “We can see you. We cannot land. We will send a ship that will be here in the morning. I repeat, we will send a ship for you. You will be rescued in the morning. Do you understand?”

They both cried, “Yes! Yes!” Kun was still waving his torch around as if in a transe.

The craft hovered a little bit longer and both of them could hear what the pilot said to his commlink, the megaphone still picking up the sound. “Yeah, we’ve found the other two. Yeah, we’ll bring them in for the check-up as well. Over.”

Kun and him remained silent until neither of them could hear the sound of the helicopter anymore.

“Oh thank God,” Kun choked out, collapsing into the sand next to Leo. His torch fell from his fingers and rolled down the beach, the flames dulling.

Leo turned to face him, glad that the darkness was hiding the emotions in his face. Kun wrapped his arms around him, squeezing tightly.

“Thank God,” Leo echoed, returning the tight embrace.


End file.
